Latest News on my Cancer Treatment

Hi All,

My chest CT scan was negative this morning. I get another three month reprieve from being poisoned by chemotherapy. Yippee.

Henry

Distinctive Rock Arch at Cabo San Lucas

Cabo San Lucas

At Cabo San Lucas, the ship is too big to dock. It anchors in the harbor, and you go into town on a little boat. I did that. The top picture shows our ship at anchor, taken from the little boat that took us ashore. The next picture shows the guy who took me out for a whale watching and snorkeling trip and the boat he took me out on. The third picture shows some pelicans. They have lots of pelicans in the Cabo San Lucas harbor. The bottom picture shows two of the whales that we watched.

I didn't get any good pictures of the snorkeling. I bought one of those waterproof cameras to take pictures, but the sun wasn't bright enough that day, and none of the pictures of the intensely colorful fish were any good. Once I was finished snorkeling, I had a problem getting back onto the boat. The guy had a ladder, but when I'd start to climb up on the ladder, it would swing under the hull, I'd be kind of hanging off the ladder, and I was unable to climb up it. It was kind of funny, but the guy driving the boat was kind enough not to laugh. I'm so fat that he was unable to help me up into the boat. He'd have had to be a champion weight lifter to get me onto the boat. Fortunately for me, there was a rock near the shore that I was able to climb up onto. Then the boat guy drove his boat next to the rock, and I was able to flop myself into the boat. I definitely have to work on losing weight.

I gave the guy double the tip I'd been planning on giving him because he didn't laugh at me in my presence. I presume that he and his family had a good laugh that evening at dinner when he told them about the fat gringo he'd taken whale watching and snorkeling.

Views of Mazatlan

A curious thing happened at Mazatlan. There were soldiers at the dock checking containers, and we had to use a tram to get from the ship to the exit of the port. Carolyn, still recuperating from her broken ankle (see below in this blog) was using an electric scooter on the ship, but she couldn't get it onto the tram. She encouraged me to go into town to do some sight seeing. I'd already taken pictures from the Lido deck (above), but I decided I'd look around the downtown area. So I took the tram to the exit building at the port. It turned out that a taxi ride to town cost $6 (US). I didn't want to get involved in changing dollars for pesos so I asked the driver of the cab if he could give me change of a $20 bill in US dollars. He couldn't. So I elected to buy something at the little shopping area right there at the exit, get my change in US dollars, and then have the right change for the cab. There was a sign at the little bar area that said that a Margarita would cost $4. At the bar, they were able to give me change in US dollars, so I had a Margarita. Apparently, it doesn't cost much for alcoholic beverages in Mexico. They were pretty generous with that drink. It took me about an hour to actually get the Margarita down my gullet, and by then, I was so dizzy, I didn't feel able to do anything other than going back to the ship on the little tram and taking a nap back in my cabin.

The actual David by Michaelangelo

This, the actual statue of David by Michealangelo, is much better, but the model for this one also wasn't Jewish.

The Decor of the Carnival Pride

You'll note that the decor of the Pride is themed on Renaissance art and sculpture. The copy of Michaelangelo's David isn't as good as the original, and, clearly, the model wasn't actually Jewish.

The Decor of the Carnival Pride

You'll note that the decor of the Pride is themed on Renaissance art and sculpture. The copy of Michaelangelo's David isn't as good as the original, and, clearly, the model wasn't actually Jewish.

The Carnival Pride compared with the Queen Mary

The apparent difference in size of the two ships is quite real. Carolyn and I took this cruise to celebrate her finishing her radiation therapy after her fourth episode of breast cancer. I was also enjoying my vacation from chemotherapy because my onc thinks he's cured me. I'll find out tomorrow when I get my next CT scan if he'll still think that I'm cured.

The Queen Mary

Here's a picture of the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, as seen from the Lido deck of the Carnival Pride. You'll note that when I was standing on the Lido deck (deck 9 of 11), I was a tad higher than the smokestacks of the Queen Mary. You have to understand that the Queen Mary was built to cross the North Atlantic during stormy weather. Cruise ships like the Pride are built to sail in calm waters. So they can be bigger. I wouldn't dare take a cruise on a ship like the Pride if I thought there might be a storm on the path of the cruise.